Thankfully people just don't know when to give up. More six foot under than down and out, Slade have clawed their way back from death's dark chart-file to currently stomp about town (platform boots a-glinting) with alarming vigour. The band that time forgot.

Oh Nod, forgive me for I have sinned, carelessly packing you off to has-been limbo. Flail me and be done.

Their legacy of course is considerable. Arguably the finest singles band of the early seventies, certainly one of the most influential, they gave birth to a rowdy brood of classic tracks. Each and every one complemented by memorable telly spots.

How I remember teetering about like an idiot to 'Mamma Weer All Crazee Now', 'Cum On Feel The Noize' and 'Gudbye T' Jane' to name but three. Oh, for the days when a mirrored top hat was the height of street level elegance...

Eventually conquered peaks began to crumble under the weight of ambitions. movie, 'Slade In Flame' was released - maybe the Scala will dig it out and refresh our memories? - and the decision to invade America taken. Like a row of teeth at a Rejects' gig, they flew out of our lives. The end of an era. Supersonic died and Top Of The Pops was never the same again. Pause to wipe away the tears.

Meanwhile back in the States, Slade were working their loons off. Two years of hard graft reaped precious few rewards. They came home in seventy seven just as the punk rebellion gobbed to it's heights. The boys disembarked at Heathrow as an anachronism, no heroe's welcome, just more hard graft.

Then bingo! A triumph at the Reading Festival and the consequent release of the Live At Reading EP featuring the smashing 'When I'm Dancing I Ain't Fighting' - sledgehammer pop in the grand old tradition. A sparkling gig at the Lyceum was all I needed to be convinced that Slade were very much alive and well and on top form. So much for the potted history.

Wrapped in a decidedly dodgy old blue duffel coat, his golfball peepers swivelling above equally blue bags, Noddy Holder ain't quite the hero I'd imagined. I was kinda hoping he'd greet me in all his silly stage togs, so to be confronted with this duffel coat...a bit of a downer as you can imagine.

Still, the man himself was bright and cheery as was the wiry Jim Lea. Unfortunately drummer Don Powelland ace guitarist Dave Hill couldn't make the trip, intrigues up Wolverhampton way and all that, so I was denied the chance to ask really important stuff like 'Why does Dave persist with that truly hideous hair style?' and other burning issues. Thus limited I asked Nod (Neville really, amazing eh?) if they were getting a trifle desperate before the Reading break?

"No, it wasn't a matter of desperation," he declares, finally shedding said duffel coat, much to my relief.

"When we came back from the States the whole music scene had changed. It was a case of starting on the bottom rung of the ladder and working our way up again, which is what we set about to do really. Just slumming it around, doing gigs everywhere and anywhere. Not only in Britain but in Europe as well, making people aware that we hadn't split up and weren't sunning ourselves in the Bahamas. We've been working solid since the hit records stopped, always on the road.

"When we returned we were in a heavy vein, the album released then 'Whatever Happened To Slade' was a heavy album, and it didn't mean anything then. It was totally Americanised. Totally out of context to what was going on at the time. If it was released now it would be in vogue because it's a heavy metal orientated LP."

Were you completely unaware of the development over here then?

"No, not really. We knew that there had been changes over here - we'd read the papers. But you'd never hear any of the music on American radio. We were thinking, 'Who are these bands? What sort of music is it?' We got back and turned on the radio and it was like a revelation to us. Good God, what's happening?! It was a totally different feeling. We might as well have been in Japan."

The band took a year off then, to assess their own situation, finally lured back to the boards for a gig in Germany. That was quickly followed by one at Reading University.

"When we did that - Fantastic! We thought, 'Crike' if we can go down like that, let's do more gigs. And that's what we've been doing ever since."

Things weren't that simple though. It was hardly hip to be a Slade booster then. It seemed people just didn't want to know.

"The radio at the time just wouldn't play us. Now Nod and I can write some good tunes, but whatever went they wouldn't touch us. It was all to do with fashion. You can't be bitter about it, we understand it. We realised that the name Slade was uncool; we knew we had to overcome our own name and people's preconceived ideas as to what the band was about.

"It's taken us two years to overcome that hurdle...But we had to do that the first time round as well. People then used to associate the name Slade with the skinhead image. But we did it then and we'll do it now."

It was in fact a lucky fluke that won the group the Reading spot. If it wasn't for a certain ex-Sab, Noddy and the rest might still be slogging around the country unnoticed, as the singer explains.

"Well, Ozzy Osbourne's band pulled out three days before the show and so they asked us to do it. We weren't on any of the billings or anything, we just stepped into Ozzy's place. We hadn't been on the road for two months. We just got a quick rehearsal together and went on. It hasn't changed to us since then but it certainly opened people's eyes. They're aware of us again."

"It was rather funny really," continues Jim. "We rolled up to Reading in our Ford Granada, we got sent to the public car park. We got all our guitars and cases and that out of the car and off we went struggling through the crowd. When we got to the artists enclosure we found that we didn't have our backstage passes, so there we were asking if we could come in. And stretching off behind us was a whole line of Rolls Royces.

"Now Whitesnake rolling up in a Rolls Royce you expect, being top of the bill. But everyone had one, the whole bill! And there's us with twenty hit records under our belt struggling through the dust.

"That's the way it's always been with us. The story of our lives, everything around us always falls apart. We've never been able to be cool. God, we've tried, I'm afraid we'll always be uncool. We felt like the outsiders going to Reading, but when we got backstage everyone started asking us for our autographs. We felt good then, that's when we knew we were in with a bloody good chance. We never die on stage either. Been around too long. We knew exactly what we were going to do, never had any problems with audiences."

The entire show was recorded by the BBC for broadcasting on the Friday Rock Show. Forty-five minutes of Slade's set was aired. "We just had to release something from it, we had so many requests."

'When I'm Dancing' and 'Born To Be Wild' were the selected songs, an arrangement was struck with the Beeb and the EP appeared on Jim Lea's own Cheapskate Records label. It's currenly jostling around the top forty as well as making a fleeting though high appearance in our own HM chart. It deserves your attention.

Meanwhile Polydor are releasing a 'Slade Smashes' compilation invaluable for wretches like me who no longer possess the originals. I asked Nod if he was at all depressed at this preoccupation with past glories?

"Depressed? No. This compilation will be great for the fans, a chance to get all the hits on one record. But we don't relate to them in the same way anymore, the way we play them now is bugger all like the records anyway."

Jim : "I didn't even like some of those old ones. We all hated 'Gudbye T' Jane' when we made it, it was knocked up in half an hour at the end of one of our studio sessions. The same for our second single, 'Coz I Luv You'. It was namby-pamby to us, a throwaway for an album. It shot to number on in two weeks and we thought, 'What a pile of shit!' It was so wet.

"But they were good times. The success never changed us, because this band just doesn't have an ego - except for Dave. I remember there was this great rivalry between us and Bolan. We used to sit in the TOTP dressing room getting powdered up, with the Osmonds waiting behind us, and everyone was taking the piss out of one another. We would come out of the Beeb and there would be all these fans after autographs and stuff. Chicks would come up to Marc and say, 'Are you Marc Bolan? Ain't you fat.'

The duo chuckle happily at the memory.

"And now we're having to live down our success. Y'know it's much harder to make it the second time around. We've never, ever considered splitting up because we know that at the end of the day we can walk on stage and blow any fucker off - and that's what it all comes down to in the end.

"And that goes right back to the beginning. Like when we were skins we were outlawed. It was really bad then. No gigs, no radioplay, nothing. But we survived because we went to places like universities and that and tore the joints apart; not a skinhead in sight in the audience, it was all long haired hippies in those days.

"We just need people to see us at face value, see? Exactly the same as they did at Lincoln or Reading. They didn't fork out their ticket money to see us at those gigs, but once they did see us they accepted us for what we were and enjoyed it...and that's all we've ever been here for."

TRIUMPHANT SLADE

SLADE MAJOR SUCCESS

SLADE / Laugardalshöll, Reykjavik, Iceland 12/11/1974The problems that beset Nazareth when they played the Laugardals Arena a couple of weeks before had completely been ironed out when British Supergroup Slade came to Iceland for their first ever visit.
Nazareth's appearance at the same arena venue had been disrupted and indeed spoiled by a terrible sound system which had not been set up properly to accommodate the acoustics with disastrous results. Slade however, as you would expect from the biggest band in Britain, produced a slick professional show with both sound and the light show being exemplary throughout.

The same couldn't be said for local support band 'Pelikan' who struggled to make themselves heard throughout the arena as they played their set through a different sound system, which was a pity especially during Asgeir Óskarsson's fine drum solo during 'How Do I get Out Of New York City' . But the crowd, made up of around 3,000 almost entirely girls aged between 10 and 15 years of age were not really interested in the musicianship of Pelikan.

And so it was, that Slade strode onto the

stage to a rapturous reception that indeed

saw some of the audience fainting with

excitement and anticipation as these four

strangely, comically dressed men stood high

on the stage above them, worshipped as

Gods. One young girl was so overcome that

she seemed to suffer a complete nervous

breakdown and was taken to the emergency

room, with the Police clearing a way through

the crowd. Thankfully, there were no serious

injuries during the evening, and the Police

and security were able to keep order

throughout, despite the frenzy that the band,

especially vocalist Noddy Holder, seemed

intent on generating throughout, with various requests for the crowd to follow his lead as he made mooing sounds, or worse, farting sounds that the audience responded to gleefully. This brings into question whether a band such as Slade should even be unleashed on an audience as young as were in attendance. Those sentiments will surely come from those who were worried about the sort of bad example Slade would set for their children, a worry dismissed by Danish promoter Erik Thomsen who insisted that Iceland was ready and able to put on concerts by the biggest of world stars, mentioning that Swedish band ABBA could be next up in December, followed by Paul McCartney and Wings in April and the Rolling Stones next summer. Thomsen was more concerned that only 3,000 tickets for the show had been sold and was worried about any damages that would be caused by the rowdy audience whipped up constantly by Holder and his friends.

So what of Slade? Certainly those that had come to see them didn't care about their musical talent, just looking around at the sea of faces one could see the fascination, happiness and joy expressed in every single young face. Slade are raw, unsophisticated, hilariously dressed clowns who gave the fans exactly what they wanted and expected. Look deeper however and the suspicion creeps in that there is something about Slade. Fools they are not, and their wild exuberance does away with the notion that musical excellence must adhere to strict rules regarding beats per minute or that it must be delivered with a funereal solemnity of those that take themselves too seriously.

Slade's music is original in the broadest sense of the word, it can belong to no other band, and it is delivered with considerable skill, the dress sense tells you all you need to know before a note is played, pure enjoyment is demanded, and surely this could have a good effect on Icelandic music in general, there is a lot that can be learned from bands like Slade despite their detractors.

Undoubtedly, some pop enthusiasts will complain about these sort of groups, they were certainly loud, but the sound was clear, unlike Nazareth a few weeks previously, sometimes it was so loud that it was impossible to identify individual tones from the instruments, but it was all done so expertly, implemented by performers who can be commended by their exemplary performance on the night. They certainly know their worth, they understand how to produce the perfect show for the crowd and gave them a powerful show with an excellent stage presence as they played the music that has made them rich and famous and sounded just as they do on their records. Slade are a band who want to entertain their audience, the quality of the music is less important to them than having a good time and making sure that the fans have a good time with them, Holder even taking the time to laugh at their own image in a self-deprecating manner just in order to draw laughter from the crowd and keep them in a good mood throughout, as a famous poet once said "And there was Joy in the palace!"

At the age of ten, Don Powell would walk along the street of Bilston - an industrial area in Staffordshire - with the rest of the Boy Scouts' Band, blowing on his shiny bugle and thinking that there must be more exciting instruments to play, if only somebody would let him try.

It was lucky then, for Don, for Slade and for us, that the Scout Master cottoned on to the fact that little Don-who was never one for making a nuisance of himself and preferred to slay in the back· ground-wasn't happy. "How about trying the drums'?" he said to Don one day. Don did-and from that moment on it was drums, drums all the way, deep in his heart.

But back to the very beginning-Don was born in Bilston and when he was very little his parents got their first home on a new housing estate.

All in all, Don's childhood was a fairly normal one - his biggest claim to fame before the Boy Scouts was that he joined the local police force boxing club, fancying himself as a prize fighter when he grew up. "I had to leave in the end because I got 'boxed' once too often and ended up with an ear infection. Then I went on lo athletics and did that for a couple of years as my main hobby alongside the Scout drums.

"I couldn't afford lo buy my own drum kit but when I was about fourteen or fifteen I had a mate called Dave Broadley. His dad had bought him an Olympic drum kit but he just couldn't get into playing so rather than let the kit go to waste Dave said I could borrow it whenever I wan led to. I'd practise away on it and the word go around that I was interested.

"There were a few popular groups in the area at the time and one of them was called Vendor. They got to hear of me through someone and next time I saw them, at the Youth Club, they asked me about drumming. I found out later that it wasn't me they had really wanted, but just a drum kit, and I had to tell them I didn't have any drums but Dave Broadley did. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they eventually asked me to join and so I had to persuade my dad to sign an HP agreement for my first set of drums.

"It was quite an eye opener for me joining Vendor, because the only music I had liked up until then was old rocking stuff-Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran. That was because I'd been the youngest kid in our family and my older brothers and sisters had completely influenced what music I heard. But by this time the Rolling Stones were around, and the Beatles, so I was way out of line!

"We had a great time in that group playing at weddings and eating all the sausage rolls, letting the best man join in with the singing! We did Youth Clubs too, and had work every weekend. We weren't earning a fortune-say around £7 to £10 a gig, less petrol. But I did it for the enjoyment.

"In the meantime I had left school and done a college course in metallurgy - I had never thought of turning pro in a group so I wanted to have a career. After college I got a job in a foundry in Wolverhampton and was there for over a year altogether. That job was great-I had a really good boss called Arthur who was interested in the group and so he used to give me afternoons off if we had a gig somewhere like Nottingham. The foundry did something else for me-a guy who worked there wanted to manage us and it was him who put us in touch with a good guitarist when we needed one. 'I know this guy who plays in a band the other side of town and I think he'd like to try your sort of thing.' So one night we went across to see him, playing in a pub group and looking a bit out of place. Of course, it turned out to be Dave Hill-the very first other member of the eventual Slade that I was to meet!

"Dave will tell you his own story, but anyway he joined us and soon we changed our name to the In Betweens. That was to be the start for us as a professional group, although we didn't realise it at the time."

Dave Hill was the only member of Slade not to come from the Black Country. Dave is a Devonian - but he'd laugh now if you called him that! Although he spent the first year of his life in Fleet Castle, Devon, his parents moved to Wolverhampton when they got their first home and that is where he's lived ever since.

Dave was always a happy boy, extrovert and joking, much like he is now. Says his father, Jack-who is the real proud father and has taken an interest in Dave's career all along: "He always loved music as a lad, did Dave. I knew he'd end up doing something connected with music, but his mother thought he'd be much better off as an office boy or something. He was a good boy and nice to have around, and that was all that mattered to me. A bit of a devil-but then boys ARE, aren't they?"

At school Dave wasn't particularly "academic". He was good at practical things and always enjoyed music lessons, but wasn't one for taking exams.

Says Dave, "There was one teacher at school, junior school that is-who I think is still there now and although at ~he time I thought she treated me badly, but for her I wouldn't be where I am now. You see I wanted to learn to play the recorder. Don't ask me why, I just had a thing about it. But the teacher-she was the Headmistress in fact-said that as I didn't concentrate enough and couldn't read music, she wasn't going to let me learn the recorder. I think the kids who go to that school now still tease her about it.

"So then I wanted to play piano but we didn't have one at home and couldn’t afford one so the obvious alternative was the guitar-I'd seen Elvis and the Beatles, and it seemed like a good idea. So dad bought me a cheap guitar, Kansas City, it was called, for £7-1 had a paper round and between us we found the money at 7/6d a week.

"At the time I hadn't quite reached my teens, so mum and dad didn't take it what you could call seriously-parents in those days didn't consider that anyone could have any talent on a thing like a guitar, it wasn't a 'proper' instrument. So they didn't think you could make money out of it. My grandfather had been a Doctor of Music and he was a great piano player, so I've been told, so that was what most people thought of as music.

"Anyway I got on quite well with the guitar, and I really believe that life is planned out for you. I might have ended up a concert pianist, but I didn't, it was planned for me to be in a successful group-may maybe later there will be different successes.

"I remember when I was about twelve and in the Scouts I went to a lady palm reader. The occasion still sticks in my mind. She said, "I don't know what it is you are going to do my dear, but whatever it is you will be very successful at it', I think she was right. I've never felt like a loser,"

DAVE WAS ALWAYS A HAPPY BOY

When Dave was fifteen he had his first group - a collection of boys from the council estate calling themselves the Young Ones. "Then I joined this band - well sort of band - of old blokes playing sax and that in a working men's pub. I was the odd guy out - I was the only guitarist and I was a bit young really to be there with people drinking and smoking. So I was dead pleased one day when this guy came in and stood watching me play. Later he said he was manager of Don Powell's group called Vendor, and they were looking for a guitarist. He said would I like to come along for an audition-so I did.

"A few days later I arrived in the front room of the lead singer's house - no halls for auditions in those days! - And I got my very first sight of Don. He was sitting in the corner of the room, a spotty, pale-faced kid of about sixteen. I got the job, but I never spoke one word to him in the first month I was with the group. For some reason Don never talked, and it kind of fascinated me, you know, I couldn't suss him out. He was so pale, so stern-faced and he used to brush his hair right back. But eventually he decided to talk to me, and he isn't the way he looks at all if you know what I mean.

"Soon after I joined the group we called ourselves the In Betweens and we start· ed doing working men's clubs, and Regals and Plazas instead of just Youth Clubs! We were on the up and up!"

James Lea was born in a public house in Wolverhampton but left there when he was three, and since then-until he got married two years ago-lived in a lot of different homes with his mum and dad, and brothers.

Jimmy is the only one of Slade who really did come from a musical background, and so when he was nine, mum asked Jim if he would like to learn an instrument. Jim plumped for the violin, as two of his uncles and his grandfather had been pro violinists. With daily violin lessons Jim soon became a talented player and after getting some first class honours in an exam he was asked to join the Staffordshire Youth Orchestra-a great honour.

"Yes it was a great honour but if I'm truthful I'll tell you now that I didn't en· joy being in it. I didn't make one friend there the other children weren't my type at all, because they spent all their time talking about classical music and pieces I'd never heard of!

All I wanted was to talk to anyone interested in guitar!

"Meanwhile I was doing okay at school· -I was meant to be the bright hope of the family, what with the violin and being good at Art, and my parents wanted me to go to Art College. So when I came to leave school at fifteen they got a shock when I realised I didn't want to do all that after all. Anyway I saw an advert in the paper-the In Betweens needed a bass guitarist and they were having an audition - a proper one - to find somebody.

Well I decided to go along, as by this time the In Betweens were one of the biggest local groups. Don and Dave were already in the line-up - leaders in fact. They were doing R&B stuff and this was just what I wanted. From the first moment I ' saw the Rolling Stones on TV I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wasn't motivated by money or anything, just the thought that I wanted to be like them.

"That audition was probably the most terrifying thing I have ever had to do. I only had a guitar and no other equipment so I decided to go along anyway and pretend I couldn't get transport to bring all my stuff with me, and then hope to borrow someone else's there. I wasn't sure what to expect but I arrived to what seemed like a sea of faces all waiting to be auditioned, and what made it worse was that the guy playing when I arrived was quite good - I nearly turned around and went home.

"I managed to borrow what I needed and when it was my turn I played a couple of R&B numbers. I was so nervous I felt I could hardly play, but I was playing really fast because for some reason I thought that was what I was supposed to do. Then I stayed and listened to some more auditions and decided they weren't so good after all.

"It was a week later that Don and Dave came to my house and to my surprise told me I'd got the job. Later they told me they thought it was funny I played so fast, but that they worked out if I could play well fast, I would play even better at a normal speed! The only thing was it meant that I would have to be a professional, as they were just turning pro. I decided it was worth it, and for ages my parents hardly spoke to me as they were so disappointed I'd forsaken the violin and Art college to join an unreliable bunch of pop musicians. It took a very long time for them to come round to my way of thinking - until we had a hit record. They had wanted me to get a degree in music. But I guess they've got over their disappointment now.'

Neville Holder - Noddy to you - has always lived in the Walsall area in Staffordshire. From a very early age he confesses, he wanted to be rich and famous with lots of pretty girlfriends and big fast cars. The way to do that he decided, was to be a pop star.

Well, it took Noddy quite a few years to achieve that-after all he had to grow up first-but in the meantime he busied himself with schoolwork and, as it turned out-he was a brainy boy and so that came easy. He was also, believe it or not, a goody-goody! One of his school friends laughingly recalls that Neville was a prefect, always did his homework and never played truant!

Dreams of riches and fame apart, Nod thought he might like to be a teacher when he left school. So he passed his 11· plus and started attending the T. P. Riley Comprehensive School in Walsall where he went on to get no less than six '0' levels. Dad who was a window cleaner, was very pleased with him. The family lived in a tenement slum for much of Nod's child· hood and that probably made Noddy all the more determined to break away and be successful.

"When I was about fourteen I decided I wanted to learn to play guitar and form a group. So I started having guitar lessons. Dad got me a tutor, Freddy Degville, who was a guitarist in the local swing band. I'm sure he was very good but I never appreciated it because all I wanted to do was learn three cords and get in a group.

"So in the fourth form I got together with some other mates and we formed the Cut-Outs. By the time I left school I was so wrapped up in groups that I'd lost all desire to be a teacher. I got a job in a Wolverhampton firm as a buyer, buying car parts. I'd been there two months when the group I had just started playing with, the Mavericks, got an offer to play Germany, and we decided to turn professional. I left my job like a shot."

AND THAT WAS DON, DAVE, JIM AND NODDY-TOGETHER AT LAST

Back in England a while later, Nod and the Mavericks split up-but while in Germany he'd happened to meet up with another group out there at the same time - the In Betweens. He got on well with them and in Wolverhampton one day by chance Don, Dave and Jim from the In Betweens came into a coffee bar where Noddy was sitting. "They told me they had heard I'd split up the Mavericks and that they were looking for a fourth member for their group, so would I join? I said I would - I started off just playing guitar and gradually began singing. I used to sing quiet in those days. You just wouldn't have recognised me!"

And that was Don, Dave, Jim and Noddy - together at last. The year was 1968.

"Before we turned pro we had a booking nearly every night in the Midlands. We thought we'd make a fortune when we went professional. But no. Nothing. We were so poor for the first few months we got really depressed." That's Don talking, reminiscing back to 1968 when the popular In Betweens had really fallen on hard times.

"The worst thing was that I was having to pay £3 a week hire purchase payments on my set of drums and I just couldn't afford it. Then dad found out and I had to tell him we weren't getting any work. Of course, he was nice about it and helped me out until, later I could repay him."

Gradually the gig scene began to pick up. The In Betweens had their very own, distinctive sound - raw R 'n' B with a touch of Tamla and soon they were earning £18 a night, five nights a week or so. Out of that had to be taken petrol money, clothes, equipment and so on-but it wasn't too bad.

‘I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU STARS’

Says Noddy: "We had this very old van which was always breaking down. I think Dave was the only one who could drive, so he used to be chauffeur too-but he never complained."

Then came what the In Betweens thought was going to be their 'big' break. A guy whose name they've forgotten came along to them and did the 'I’m going to make you stars' line. "He took us down to the famous Tin Pan Alley-Denmark Street in London, to make our first single." said Jim.

"It was a tiny studio-half the size of a sitting room, but I thought it was great because the Rolling Stones had made a record there, and they were my idols. It was Regent Sound.

"I'll never forget that, it took us about two hours to record an A side and a B side, and cost us £13. It was a terrible record, called You Better Run. Really horrible.

"We got a chitty signed by this guy saying we'd made a record and that was the last we heard. It WAS released on Columbia, and got to about number sixty, one week. I think. But we didn't make any more records as the In Betweens. Somewhere about that time I suppose we realised it wasn't going to be so easy to become stars."

But in a way, the boys weren't worried -they already thought they WERE stars. Dave explains: "In those days around Wolverhampton it was great just to be playing in a group. When I look back on the things we used to say to each other, I have to laugh. I remember once we were having a discussion about who we'd like to manage us, and we decided it would be Norrie Paramour because he'd taken the Shadows to stardom. It never occurred to us that maybe Norrie Paramour wouldn't want to know!

"It was good in a way that we had the confidence. If we were copying what Joe Bloggs was doing on the telly, and getting paid for it, then we felt like stars. We felt big-time. We thought that all we had to do was go down the road make a record, have it played on the radio and that would be it. No trouble!

"It wasn't until we met the guy who made us big-Chas Chandler-that we got a real taste of what becoming a hit group involved-photographic sessions, rehearsals, travelling miles to chat on an obscure radio show."

But that was still in the future. After the disappointment of the flop record, another lucky break came along. The group were offered a six-week contract to play at an hotel in the Bahamas-the town of Freeport to be exact.

Says Noddy: "We had a fabulous all expenses paid six weeks, playing every night and lazing on the beach in the hot sun every day, getting brown. But of course, something had to go wrong. And it did. Towards the end of our stay the company who had booked us to go out there and were paying for our hotel rooms went bust, and we were left with a huge bill we couldn't pay. Thinking it was all free, we'd run up incredible bills of food and drinks.

"We did the only thing we could in the circumstances. The hotel wouldn't let us off the island until we'd paid up - so we offered to work off the bill by playing for them every night for free. They accepted so we spent four months paying it off. Needless to say, we couldn't stay in the hotel any more-they found us one room, put four mattresses in it and we had to live there!

"Living in one room together taught us a lot. It was quite a laugh in some ways, but you don't realise how difficult it is to live on top of three other people until you try. Anyway, four months later they let us off the island and back we came to Britain. While we'd been out there we had cut our hair fairly short, as it was so hot. And in a way that was what led us to becoming Britain's first skinhead pop group!”

Back in England, and broke again, the group were determined to continue. Pretty soon things were looking up: the In Betweens were beginning to play gigs as far away from the Black Country as London and people in the record business began to notice them. "Fontana records told us we could make some demonstration records for them. And we decided that a change of name would be a good thing-so we thought about it and decided to call ourselves Ambrose Slade."

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

The year was 1969-and on the strength of those demonstration records, by December 1969 Ambrose Slade had made their first single for Fontana. It was called Wild Winds are Blowing. And it was a miss.

"It wasn't a bad record," says Jim. "None of the records we made before we had a hit - except that early one ..... were bad. In the old days other people used to write our records but soon Fontana said to us that if we wanted to get anywhere we'd have to start writing our own stuff.

"At first we didn't have a clue but we finally got it together and the first thing we wrote was this instrumental. Later on we also wrote Know Who You Are - our first single for another record company, Polydor-whom we're still with."

Ambrose Slade's second and last single for Fontana was Shape of Things To Come. It was also a miss but they were beginning to get a few reviews in the music papers. Why? Unfortunately the critics weren't praising Ambrose Slade with their tough, ugly image-they were knocking them.

Then the real 'big break' came along.

Noddy and the boys were playing at the Bag 0' Nails club in London. They didn't know it, but this famous club was owned by one John Gunnell, who had a partner called Chas Chandler. Chas had over the years won himself a big reputation in the music business. First he had been a member of the Animals in the Sixties; then he had gone into management and discovered the legendary Jimi Hendrix singing and playing in a New York nightclub. After Jimi, Chas was looking for a bright new group to manage and mould into stardom and John Gunnell mentioned this group Ambrose Slade who were playing at his club.

Chas went down, saw the boys and decided that they had the potential and the talent. He signed them up.

"The first thing Chas did was get us a new recording contract with Polydor in September 1970. The second thing he did was tell us to drop the first part of our name and just become Slade," says Don.

"And the third thing he did was to tell us to write as much of our material as we could, and pair off in twos for the purpose. So I went with Jim and Nod went with Dave, and it all seemed to work out very well."

By this time Slade had got so used to setbacks that they weren't going to be too optimistic. The boys had shorn their heads and joined the skinhead craze of 1970. Although the skinhead image wasn't being too well received, it WAS getting them publicity, so they decided to keep it for the time being. But still they didn't have a hit record-the first for Polydor, Know Who You Are - didn't get anywhere.

Says Dave, "We were doing all these things and it seemed to be getting us nowhere - photographs in Istanbul, sessions for Radio Belgium. And plenty of gigs. But Chas told us to put up with it. 'You may not see the point of doing all these things now,' he said. 'But if you do them you will find out that one day in the future it will all come right, and we'll get the rewards of all this effort.' And sure enough when we did finally get a hit all those photos began to appear all over the world. '

January 1971 and Slade are on the brink of real stardom. They've just recorded the single, which is to be their very first, long awaited hit. And they and Chas are toying with the idea of getting rid of the skinhead image. It seems that the skinhead kids all over the country want black reggae music, not four lads from Wolverhampton playing their own brand of dance music.

In the first few months of 1971, Chas Chandler was making sure that, although Slade were still short of a hit, their name was becoming well known within the business, and they were getting plenty of work in clubs and on shows like the Radio 1 Club.

Even so, Slade's 'skinhead' tag was getting them a whole lot of trouble in some areas. The real teenage skinheads up and down the country were fans of black reggae music and to them, Slade weren't playing skinhead music at all. And non-skinheads weren't too sure about Slade either - in case they WERE playing skinhead music. Dancehall owners and promoters were reluctant to book Slade, thinking that 'skinhead' spelt trouble. And to add to that, other groups would sometimes refuse to play on the same bill as Slade. For instance, in February 1971 Slade accused the then top-billing T-Rex of trying to stop them playing on the same bill at a concert in Wales.

GET DOWN AND GET WITH IT

It seemed that no one liked Slade.

People were always ready to knock first, then listen. BUT listen they did. By June 1971 Slade had completed recording an old Little Richard number called Get Down And Get With It. It was a raw, loud, immediate treatment of the old number. "I thought, if this doesn't get anywhere, we'll never make the charts," says Don. "Because by this time we were getting in the newspapers. As the In-Betweens and Ambrose Slade we had made records which had gone un-noticed - good records that just didn't get played or picked up."

When Get Down And Get With It walked, rather than bounded-into the charts some weeks later, you can imagine how everyone felt. That impossible dream had happened at last - just as Chas had always said it would. The record never made the Top Ten, but it got to number fifteen and it gave Slade just what they needed- the chance to show what they could really do.

"Chas and we decided that it was time to start growing our hair again and to try to rid ourselves of the skinhead image for good. He also told us it was time to write our own hit, so Nod and Jim went away and wrote Coz I Luv You in fifteen minutes one afternoon. We also went on the road all over the country because Chas knew that we were happiest as a 'live' band and could build up a following this way."

That is something that Slade and Chas never forgot-the appeal of the concert, the live show. The friends you can make and fans you can win by giving people what they want - entertainment. ' Even then," says Dave, "we realised that the kids were fed up with sitting down and listening to half-hour long riffs by a guitarist who looked bored himself. We wanted to make people get up and dance, laugh, clap, have a good time. That's what pop is all about. We haven't got any time for finding messages in music. Our show is old-fashioned entertainment."

Two of Slade's hits to come - Mama Weer All Crazee Now and Cum On Feet the Noize - were inspired by the atmosphere at concerts. If you've never been to a Slade concert-try it sometime. It's good for the system.

But back to 1971. October was the biggest month in Slade's life. Coz I Luv You leapt into the charts in its first week of release. Two weeks later it sat at number one, where it stayed for four whole weeks and earnt Slade their first silver disc. Coz I Luv You caused a storm-not least with schools all over the country because teachers complained to their MP's that Slade's deliberate spelling mistakes in their song titles would corrupt the youth of the nation and breed a generation of bad spellers.

Slade were pleased. When you've got them talking about you in Parliament, you've really made it.

THEIR CLOTHES WERE THEIR TRADEMARK TOO

Their clothes were their trademark too. No more bovver boots, braces and dungarees for Slade. To go with the new, longer hairstyles the boys created a look which was to be copied for years - still is, in fact. Noddy always wore a big top hat and short, tartan trousers-preceding the Bay City Rollers. Dave was the first pop star to bring silver and glitter into fashion. He wore silver boots, trousers, shirts, rings, jackets-and silver glitter in his hair and on his face. Dave also start· ed the trend for really outrageous platform shoes-all the group did, after a visit to Kensington Market where they all bought a pair of brightly coloured, multi-stacked heels. Some of Dave's platforms were 10cm (4in) high with 15cm (6in) heels. It's no wonder that by January '72 nobody remembered that Slade had once been skinheads.

In November 1971 Slade had their very first offer to visit the States to promote their record. But - whether wisely or not - they turned down the offer to concentrate on consolidating their British success. After Coz I Luv You - which only just missed a Gold, every Slade single has received a silver disc-three (Cum On Feel The Noize, Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me, Merry Xmas Everybody) won gold discs too. And a Platinum for Merry Xmas Everybody. Every Slade album after their first, Play It Loud, has won them a gold disc. So it's no wonder that the BBC's Top Of The Pops programme keeps a special dressing room for Slade-they visit the show so often! Slade are virtually assured an airing on TOTP with every new release. Noddy calculates that he and the boys have made no less than fifty appearances on Top Of The Pops.

So by 1972 everybody was talking about Slade. The boys themselves, however had learnt a certain amount of caution over the years. "All those hard times when we could barely afford the equipment we needed, let alone a decent hotel to stay in for a night, gave us the sort of grounding it's an advantage to have in the pop business," says Jim.

WE LEARNT WHAT MONEY’S ALL ABOUT

"We learnt what money's all about and that it can disappear very quickly. So when the hit records started to come we didn't all rush out and spend. Noddy had always wanted plenty of money to spend on flash cars and suchlike, but even he didn't go out and get all those things."

So it was that for the first two years at the top, Slade's lifestyle didn't change very much. Chas smilingly recalls that he had to force the boys to stay in a nice bed and breakfast place rather than a tatty one which would have cost them five shillings a head less! The boys waited a long time before buying beautiful cars and none of them left their parental homes until fairly recently. They've gained a reputation for being careful with their money - though in no .way would any of them stint on giving their parents the things they need. Dave badly wants to buy his parents a new house but they are reluctant to leave their old, familiar surroundings, so he has compromised by decorating the old home for them.

Jim, and Don have now bought flats in North London. Says Jim, "I always said I'd never move from Wolverhampton, I know that. But I'm an impulsive person. I saw an advert for this flat in town and said right, let's do it. But I won't live there all the time; it'll just be instead of paying to stay in hotels whenever we have to stay in London, which is quite often. Don's bought one too - although we both have homes of our own in Wolverhampton. Don bought his flat because he wants somewhere to put his pinball machine. So far it's been in his bedroom at his flat in Wolverhampton, but every time someone plays on it, it affects the TV set of the man who lives below, and he's going to catch on one day soon!"

Nod and Dave are still more than happy to live in Wolverhampton - that's where they feel relaxed. It's also where a lot of mates and relations live - like Swin, Slade's long-time friend and sometimes personal assistant. Swin's mother loves it when he brings Slade home for a cup of tea.

Girlfriends? Well, Nod likes a lot of girlfriends, Dave and Don content themselves with a few and, of course, Jim got married two years ago to Louise, his sweetheart from schooldays. Louise is blonde, pert, and friendly and Jim's mum is delighted that he and Louise got together.

"She's such a nice girl. We've known her for years and I'm so glad he's married her rather than a strange girl from London or somewhere. I feel at ease with Louise and I know Jim thinks the world of her. They had a little wedding in the registry office, nothing fancy. And we hardly had any warning!"

Since Slade made it to the top things haven't always been good for them. Perhaps the worst tragedy to strike was when, in the Summer of 73, Don, was involved in a car crash and everybody thought he was going to die. He lived, but his girlfriend died in the crash. That's a part of his life Don prefers not to talk about - in fact he has lost all memory of the months preceding the crash, which is perhaps, in a way, nature's method of being kind. Don was out of the group for some time and Jim's brother Frank Lea deputised on drums for a little while till Don was well again.

Another accident was when Dave was involved in a crush on stage at Liverpool and broke his leg - but he can now look back at that and laugh, blaming it on his high platform boots!

Anyhow, despite the occasional setback, Slade have never looked like losing their position as Britain's number one pop group. Another first for them was that in 1974 they were destined to make the first really successful movie by a pop group since The Beatles made A Hard Day's Night.

FILMING SLADE

That film is, of course, SLADE In Flame. The boys are thrilled with it. They'd wanted to make a film for some while - "Isn't it something every group wants to do? asks Jim. They eventually got round to mentioning this ambition to Chas, who decided it would be possible, if a good enough script was found. Eventually he invited a man called Andrew Birkin to, accompany Slade on their last tour of the USA and then try his hand at a script based on a pop group. The result was Flame, which everyone liked. It was a very accurate picture of life in the tough world of pop and although it wasn't an exact double of Slade's own life story, it was similar.

So Slade started work on filming Flame in the Summer of '74. "I think we were all a bit frightened," says Don. "Mainly we were worried that we would make fools of ourselves in front of professional actors and technicians. For the first few days it was a bit difficult, then we relaxed and enjoyed it."

Anyway needless to say, Flame has been a smash wherever it has played. Jim is very excited indeed: "Although I'd seen rushes of the film and been to its premiere, I wanted to go and see it in an ordinary cinema where nobody would know me. So I got together with a couple of friends and we drove to Chesterfield. We had meant to go further, but we were getting late and we passed this cinema in Chesterfield and noticed Flame was on, so in we went. I sat there watching it and feeling really peculiar! I got such a kick! It's rather like hearing a record of yours on the radio - you can have heard it a hundred times in the studio or on your record player at home, but that first time you hear it on radio it sounds different!"

Some people like to make out that Slade haven't changed over the past four years. That they are still four working class lads with simple tastes who like nothing better than to down a pint in the local with the lads they knew at school.

That's not quite true and Slade would be the first to admit it. They HAVE changed in many ways. Says Jim, "I don't go to the local pub at home much these days because although I want to be chatty with the guys I knew years ago, it is more difficult than it sounds. I'm worlds apart now from the guy who works in the local factory, who is married with some children and has to worry about the mortgage and so on. I can't talk about those things and he doesn't know the business. So I find it more relaxing to stick with the crowd of people who do understand the business."

SLADE’S TASTES HAVE CHANGED

Slade’s tastes have changed-they think they would be silly to be earning more money than they ever thought possible, yet still enjoy two weeks at Blackpool for the summer holiday. Nod's now got his fast cars, Jim his two homes and they are different people for it. But how ever much the tastes and lifestyles of Jim, Nod, Dave and Don change, their roots will always be around Wolverhampton. The people they care most about will still be there; some of their most precious memories are there What they are and have is something that started in the Black Country-and that, Slade will never forget. JUDITH WILLS

It would appear that this official biography was written in late 1975, note the FAB 208 logo. It was created as an original Slade Fan Club freebie with limited circulation prior to it's closure. It is a nice bit of memorabilia.

From an factual and informative point of view though, this is complete baloney. Any facts in this bio have been made totally worthless by the misinformation. The dates are wrong and some happenings are a chronological disaster!

They returned to England on the 29th August 1968 being hailed a success. On the 7th September at Park Hall Hotel, Wolverhampton:

"This Saturday: The return of Wolverhampton's top group from a successful season in the Bahamas"

New Musical Express October 18th 1969 (page 7)

"The earliest mention of 'Slade' is presently October 9th 1969, this being the date their haircuts were first reported by the Wolverhampton Express & Star. An article by Tony Rabba claims they got their hair cut without Chandler knowing and he went ballistic."

"...and then three months ago they met Chas Chandler..."

Walsall Observer: Friday 29th June 1969

It is however, a nice bit of memorabilia (my thanks and appreciation to Stu Rutter for supplying it) and was a great source of rare unseen photos. Please view this as memorabilia only, the FACTS are elsewhere on this site.

"Despite being out-of-date....they included photos of the group members as children that, previously, had been unseen by the public. Chas had a pile of these booklets in his office that he was about to dump. I salvaged them and said that I would give them out with 'new fan club' subscriptions. Chas must have had a supply of these booklets though as, if I remember correctly, some venues on the '77 Tour' had them on sale....."Dave Kemp 2011

Hello. Welcome to the Slade Fan Club. As you no doubt know, this is a totally new Fan Club, and it has nothing to do with Slade's Fan Club that ran between 1971 - 1977. With the Fan Club we hope to introduce lots of new ideas, but primarily keep you informed of all the Slade happenings in the 1980's.

As you will see we have enclosed your membership card. Please take note of the membership number written upon it, and quote it whenever you write to us.

The first 100 applicants will also be receiving their Slade Biography Books along with this newsletter. For those of you who were not in the first 100 members, I am afraid that we have no more of these books left, nor can we get hold of any more.

We hope that you like the Slade photo that we have enclosed. During the year we hope to get a few more other things like this done - that is why we asked you to send large SAE’s when applying for the Fan Club, so that we do not have to fold photos (etc) to get them into the envelopes.

The bi-monthly Newsmags that we will be sending out will vary in size from time to time. We feel this is best, as it would be stupid to cram things into a regulated space if there is a lot of news, or reversely padding-out news to fill the given space if there hasn't been much going on at a certain time.

We will not be advertising the Fan Club too much - it's too expensive! We want you to promote the Fan Club, if you like it. Please tell the other fans you meet at concerts about it - get them to drop me a SAE, and I'll send them details. The word-of-mouth publicity by you the fans is the best type of promotion there is, and this is the means by which we hope the Club will grow.

Rock on, until March, Yours, Dave.

NEWS IN BRIEF

When Slade released "Merry Xmas Everybody" in 1973 Jim Lea said "It'll probably turn up every year now" - how right he was! What with Radio One "Sleighlisting" it through December, and the major chain of Juke-Boxes still including it as one of their Christmas Crackers, it seemed to be blasting at us from all directions in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The record seems to have virtually become a part of Xmas now - I mean no party over the Festive Season can be classed as "a party" unless it's played: The reason for it's success must be due to the fact that it always sounds so fresh.

One sour point though was when the BRMB/Radio One "Top 100 Singles Of The Decade" only placed it at no. 67. Seeing that the chart was compiled by using sales figures, and there were only 14 million selling singles last decade, and "Merry Xmas Everybody" sold 1,000,000, there is no way that it can be placed at 67: A similar chart was compiled for the independent radio stations - and that placed "Merry Xmas Everybody" at no. 13, a position that I think is probably correct. Using the BRMB chart '''fhe Smurf Song", which didn't even make no. I, sold more copies than "Merry Xmas" that was at the top slot for 5 weeks. Unbelievable!

Slade did some TV work over Christmas. They guested on the final show of The Saturday Banana - Nod was dressed up as Santa, and the band played "Merry Xmas" as well as "Okey Cokey". Then on New Year's Day they appeared on Get It Together performing "Okey Cokey" and "My Baby's Got It".

The competition in the last Slade News was won by Sue Vallance of 65 Arle Rd, Cheltenham, Glos. - who correctly told me that the B side of "Merry Xmas" was "Don't Blame Me".

For those people who got slightly confused last month with all the Slade releases, they simply consisted of; "Sign Of The Times" (BARN 010) and "Okey Cokey" (BARN on); an album "Return To Base" (NARB 003); and a single by The Dummies (Frank and Jim Lea) called "When The Lights Are Out" (Cheapskate FWL 001).

The Dummies' single; I was only able to receive a few copies from Frank Lea, all of which were sent out immediately to the people who ordered them first from me. I haven't been able to get hold of any more, at the moment, due to some legal problems. Frank assures me that everything will be sorted out soon, and that he will be able to supply me with more copies. So at the moment I am holding on to the quite substantial amount of orders, and they will be sent out as soon as I receive copies of the single. OK? Any queries, please drop me a line + SAE.

We have had some back-copies printed of Slade News, issues 4, 5 and 6 are now available - price 25p (blank PO's only) each, plus a large SAE per order. We cannot reprint the early issues, as the original sheets, used in printing, are too tatty. Sorry.

I have just heard from Serge Verhoeven of Scheihagestraat 27, B-2550 Kontich, Belgium, who says he has just bought 60 copies of the Slade album "Slade Startrack Volume 5", released in Belgium in 1970, to sell to Slade Fan Club members. The album is the Belgium equivalent, of the "Play It Loud" LP - except the cover is totally different, and has a rare photo on the front. If you would like a copy send an International Money Order t9 Serge f6r £5.00 (this includes P&p) - and he will mail you one. This is a chance for you to add another rare LP to your collection!

WHY NODDY FEARS GROUPIES

Girl fans, groupies who follow pop stars everywhere, are part of the legend of rock and roll.

As Slade prepare for a British tour in spring, lead singer Noddy Holder hopes not to meet anyone like the 18-year-old Puerto Rican who put him through a nightmare on the band’s last tour of America.

The girl, who had followed the band around America, broke into Noddy's hotel room in New York, and locked herself in the bathroom.

Blood

Noddy explained: “What I saw when I broke the door down was absolutely terrifying.

She had slashed her wrists with a knife, and blood was pouring to the floor.

I really thought she was going to die. I called the hotel manager and we got a doctor right away.

I didn't expect to see her ever again but after a couple of weeks there she was at all our concerts once again, and there she would be in the hotel bar. It still gives me the shivers.

The funny thing was she never spoke to me - either before or after the incident.”

(Cutting above from The Daily Mail, 30 January 1980)

+ + WE CAN ONLY ANSWER MAIL IF YOU ENCLOSE A S.A.E. + +

SPRING TOUR
Slade's Spring Tour has now been confirmed. The dates are as follows;

Thursday Feb 28 Watford Town Hall

Friday Feb 29 London Music Machine

(01 387 0428)

Saturday March 1 London Music Machine

(01 387 0428)

Sunday March 2 London (Flame showing)

Tuesday March 4 Cardiff University

(0222 396421)

Thursday March 6 Norwich Cromwells Club

(0603 612909)

Friday March 7 Reading University,

Child's Hall (0734 64396)

Saturday March 8 St Austell, New Cornish

Riveria (0726 812725)

Sunday March 9 Stockton Fiesta Club

Friday March 14 Jersey Behan's Club

Saturday March 15 Jersey Behan's Club

Once again the tour is fairly extensive, but this time it centres around Southern England - which makes a change!

The tour opens at Watford Town Hall on February 28. We understand that the tickets for this concert will be sold from the Harum Record Shop in Watford.

Please remember to check with the Students' Unions, who will be arranging the University concerts, as to whether non students will be admitted.

+ + Andy from Sheffield has written to me concerning the "Stomp Your Hands, Clap Your Feet" Slade import albums that he planned to sell (see s.N.6). Apparently there has been a delay, but he will contact the people who wrote to him showing interest in obtaining copies as soon as firm details become available +

SLADE TOUR LONDON

As you no doubt know, before Christmas Queen played a "Crazy Tour Of London" , well this was Slade's own attempt at such a venture - except it was on a slightly smaller scale, but it was totally crazee!

The first stop was at st. Bart's Hospital on December 7. It was rather a posh "do" so I am told, mainly Medical Students attended, dressed to the hilt in 3 piece suits!

The following day it was on to Goldsmith's College in New Cross, South London. This was the Student's Xmas Party gig. The Student's Union seemed to have worked very hard at promoting the concert, mainly by designing a cheeky publicity poster, which I must have seen at least 100 times all over Lewisham!

Also before the concert the audience were treated to a spectacular puppet show (!) and to meeting Santa, who just so happened to be in attendance at the gig. All of this, plus the fact that the bar did a roaring trade, meant that by the time that Slade came on the crowd were full of Christmas spirit, of both kinds. This was proven by a certain young lady who decided to strip off and jig about on stage to "Something Else"!

Slade's performance was as immaculate as ever, except for a little point when Don had some trouble with the drums, but Jim filled in the break with ad-lib versions of "Teddy Bears' Picnic" and "Hot Love" - which was quite surprising.

The band's set was the same as the one on the October tour, but this time they added "Merry Xmas Everybody" and "Okey Cokey" to the act. Also, to the fashion conscious of you, Nod had a new stage outfit!

The next Slade concert on the Xmas bash took place on Thursday December 13 at the Music Machine, in Camden Town. This undoubtably was the concert of the tour. A packed house, along with several "stars" in attendance at this show, notably Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Phil Taylor (Motorhead) and Nicky Headon (The Clash), showed this to be true.

It was a smashing concert, a real Xmas party - what with everyone wearing the silly party hats given out by Swinn before the show - and tinsel seeming to be everywhere.

What with The Sweet, Gary Glitter and Bolan being played by the resident D.J. just before Slade appeared made it seem as if we were back in 1973 again, rather than I979! Anyway the D.J. wasn't far wrong when he stated, "You are about to witness the best concert of 1979..."

Still, on to the show, for some reason the group changed the act slightly, "Merry Xmas Everybody" (when incidentally hundreds of balloons came falling down from above) and "Okey Cokey" were now included as part of the act - rather than being encores. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, the crowd did do the "Okey Cokey" when it was played. The dancefloor was transformed into a mass surging bodies moving in and out and doing twirls that even Anthea Redfurn would have been proud of!

Poor ol' Nod made a slight slip-up though when he introduced “My Baby Left Me" as “My Baby's Got It"! Seeing that Slade had been recording the latter song only a couple of days earlier at Granada TV, probably the predominance of it on Nod's mind caused the slip, still it does show that Slade are only human. (Shock! Horror!)

Afterwards the management were saying that it was a shame that the band couldn't have done the concert on Christmas Eve - now that would've been some night…

SLADE
Music Machine, London

OK YOU lot down there on the dance floor. Put your left foot in, take your left foot out, in out in out shake it all about, do the hokey cokey… Hey, this ain't rock 'n' roll, this is genocide! Folks are gonna get Slayed!!

At any usual gig, perhaps, but this was different. After years in the wilderness, Slade are back. And you know something? They're as red hot 'n lively as ever.

Sure, high-fringed Dave Hill has succumbed to the extra pound or seven, but is that· gonna stop him leaping atop the PA to fire out glitter-best guitar licks? No sir, and at the other end Jim Lea is equally vicious, hammering out horrific violin licks as Don Powell crashes out torrents of mean rhythms.

But it's Noddy that the fans love and our own Mr Holder looks as young and fit as ever as he goads them on with his hooligan wide boy charm. Crashing out chords and orchestrating the head-banging, Slade give the impression that they were the prototype Quo. A hard-thumping dance band for those rockers freshly spilt from the football terraces.

A far cry from the contemporary tribalism of today’s gigs. Instead, a sociable we're fun-together attitude, with the revellers united in the common cause of coming to feel the noise.

And noise was what we got, not to mention a great display of party hats, balloons and flashing lights. There were the old hits, 'Mama Weer Orl Crazee Now', 'Gudbuy T''Jaine' (all mis-spellngs approximate) 'Get Down And Get With It,' 'Everyday' and of course, a rousing, almost tear-jerking 'Merry Xmas Everybody'.

Will Slade be restored to their former glory or are they just half-forgotten heroes? It's, anybody's guess but judging by this performance, a good chunk of their fans have already received one Christmas gift they won't forget in a hurry.

MIKE NICHOLLS
Record Mirror. December 22. 1979

LONDON'S BURNING

Quite a lot of the mail that we receive concerns the film "SLADE IN FLAME". Lots of people have come up with the suggestion of petitioning the television companies to get it shown.

We have looked into the matter, and it seems that no petitions are needed. The film is owned by VPS/Goodtimes and they plan to have it shown on television after they have "Stardust" (another film owned by them) screened, which will be sometime later this year. So with out a doubt "Flame" will be on our telly’s in the near future.

But the thing is, once the film has had a television showing, it will probably never be screened again at local cinemas. This is due to the fact that once films have been seen by millions of people on television, they no longer hold a big enough "box office pull" to be shown at cinemas again. So unless you own a Video Recorder, or have enough money to hire "FLAME" for your own private showing, the TV screening of the film will be the last time you'll ever see it.

For that reason it is up to us to get "FLAME" shown at as many local cinemas as we can this year, before it is on TV.

We have been in contact with THE ESSENTIAL CINEMA in Wardour Street, London, and they have booked a showing on SUNDAY MARCH 2nd at 9.15 PM!!

We are calling on ALL London and Home Counties fans to attend, because if enough people turn up to this showing the cinema's director Derek Hill (no relation!) assures me that it will be repeated every month! Thus we hope you will bring all your friends and family to see Slade's movie.

To get into the cinema you have to be a member, but that is no problem - to join the Essential Cinema Club you just have to pay 25p at the door on the night. The cinema is situated at 76 Wardour Street, WI (just off Oxford st) - the tube stations Tottenham Court Rd and Piccadilly Circus are only 5 minutes walk from the place. As the cinema is in a very accessible position, and the film only lasts 1 hour 20 minutes, all fans from London and the suburbs will have no trouble retuning home after the showing. So you have no excuse for not going!

The phone number of the Essential is 439 3657 / 437 8127.
P.S. "SLADE IN FLAME" to be shown soon at the Leeds ABC too.

SLADE ACTION ...

RECORD SWAPS - Gerard Goyer (20 I 26 Rue Marie Stuart, 75002 Paris, France) would like to swap the following records:

In For A Penny, My Friend Stan and Gudbuy T'Jane (French pic sleeve singles) for the Smiths Crisps Flexi and the Doublebacked 19 / Melanie Flexi.

Also, Get Down And Get With It (French, B Side Know Who You Are), How Does It Feel (Yugoslavian pis) and Take Me Bak Orne, Cum On Feel The Noize, Gudbuy T'Jane (All French P/S) for the Coz I Luv You Australian album.

Thanks For The Memory and Everyday (French P/S) will be swapped for a copy of the English Burning In The Heat Of Love single.

Skweeze Me Pleeze Me, Merry Xmas Everybody, The Bangin' Man and Far Far Away (French P/S) will be exchanged for the German Coz I Luv You album (Polydor 2383 107).

And finally, Gerard will swap Mama Weer All Crazee Now and Gudbuy T'Jane (French pis) and How Does It Feel (Dutch P/S) for the Le Mejor De Slade Spanish album.

IS THIS YOU? - I have received the following letter, does it refer to you? : "During various Slade gigs (in Wales, Liverpool and Birkenhead) my fiancé and I have met a bloke from Wales called Mugsy. He gave us his address so that we could write to him and his girlfriend Carol - but we lost it whilst moving home, and we would still like to contact them. I would be grateful if you would put a notice in S.N. asking Mugsy to write to us, as I know he reads Slade News." Jeff Lake, 3 Castle St, Birkenhead, Merseyside.

WANTED - The following singles; Nobody's Fool, My Baby Left Me, Burning In The Heat Of Love, Gypsy Roadhog, Give Us A Goal, Rock n Roll Bolero, Ginny Ginny and Sign Of The Times, as Alexander Poosz (3194 Falkensten, Norway) cannot get hold of them in his country - he will pay good prices.

WANTED - Sign Of The Times for Andre Ver Hage, George Bos 2, Ymuiden, Zeewyk, Holland, will buy or swap.

... FOR YOUR REACTION

(Cutting above: Wolverhampton Express and Star 15 December 1979)

Slade return to basics

SLADE haven't bad a big hit for some time now, but it would be silly to write them off just yet, to judge by their new album, Return To Base.

Still one of the most entertaining live groups around, they have too much talent not to get another' hit, but I'm not sure if they'll hit the mark with their new single. They've revived the Hokey Cokey, no less.

It's their contender for the Christmas charts, and it will certainly get a few parties going if it's put on the turntable.

Slade's version is a hard-rocking, full of fun song which combines their musical, toughness and ability to create a good time atmosphere to perfection.

The song really suits Slade's' style, but whether or not it will be a hit is anyone's guess.

I don't know whether Return To Base refers to their music.but there is definitely a Sixties feel to some of the songs, though others are vintage Slade.

Most striking thing about the album is its variety, for Slade have loosened up a bit for this one and included much more variety of mood. It certainly pays off.

As usual they start off with force, singing a song which went down well everywhere on their last tour. It's called Wheels Ain't Coming Down, a power-packed churning song with a catchy book line.

After that, however, come all sorts of songs from frantic ravers to more gentle songs. One, which sounds similar to Bob Dylan's early tracks with The Band, especially the organ sound, really takes the ear - it's called Don't Waste Your Time.

Another striking factor is the guitar playing of Dave Hill, who has really been allowed to branch out on this disc.

In all, it'll an album, which will please Slade's still huge army of fans, both for its fidelity to the Slade sound and for its inventiveness and freshness.

John Ogden

I have just received more copies of The Dummies' single - they are being dispatched now (£1.05 + 25p P&P). Incidentally, the single has just been re-released. It is now distributed by Pye Records (the catalogue no. FWL 001 remains the same) - the new pressings now have slightly different labels (collectors' N.B.) Seeing that the single is still on the Radio One playlist, and that it has now been picked up by Capital Radio, and several other commercial stations, it is now making progress in the charts. Hurrah!

"Okey Cokey" reached no.81 in the charts, whilst "Merry Xmas Everybody" popped up again and made it to no. 91 over Christmas.

I have just heard of the death of Andy Ellis of Leeds, who was killed in a road accident. It is a tragic loss because he was one of the greatest Slade fans, as well as being such a sincere bloke.

The Susan Reynolds Bookshop in New Oxford Street (30 secs walk from Tottenham Ct Rd tube) are selling a mass of copies of the excellent paperback "The Slade Story" by George Tremlett for 30p! What a bargain.

++ Thanks to Tony Tabram of Harold Hill for all the help ++

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS

Q. What I would like to know is which of Slade's singles and albums made the charts in America, and which positions did they reach? (Mike O'Sullivan, Dewsbury)

A. Four Slade singles made the charts in The States;

Gudbuy T' Jane (No. 68), Mama Weer All Crazee Now (No. 76), Take Me Bak Ome (No. 97) and Cum On Feel The Noize (No. 98). All of this shows that chartwise Slade were closest to "breaking" in America in the Mid '72/Early '73 period, rather than the '75/'76 era in which they were based in The States, constantly touring, which is surprising. Also as far as I can make out none of Slade's U.S. albums charted.

Q. In your SLADE NEWS poll in issue 6 you had a category "Favourite Promo Film" - this jogged my memory. I remember Slade making a promotional film for Gudbuy T'Jane recorded in an Observatory. But also I vaguely recall a film shown on Top Of The Pops of them playing it live at a gig. Have you any idea at what concert the film was from, as it has been puzzling me? (Jill Hart, Leeds)

A. The Gudbuy T'Jane film was recorded at Slade's concert at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, on November 11th 1972. Although the single wasn't released at the time of the gig, it was played in advance on the Autumn tour 1972.

Q. In the last few SLADE NEWS issues there was talk about the "Give Us A Goal" single having a picture sleeve. I bought the record shortly after release and I didn't get one, nor did anybody else that I know. Could you give me some more details on it? (Mark Hyfield, Leith, Scotland)

A. "Give Us A Goal" was released with picture sleeves in Belgium, France and West Germany only - it is only the fans that have got a copy of the single imported that have the pic sleeve ones.

Tracks: Exactly the same as the British version, but a printing mistake meant that the album covers had the track "My Town" listed as being called "My Town Is The Third One"!

Pete Baker from Catford has written to say that Clive's Records (192 Broomfield Rd, Chelmsford, Essex) have been very helpful in obtaining him a copy of the "When The Lights Are Out" (Slade) import single. Anybody else interested in these American imports should drop them a line, along with a SAE, as they might prove to be of some help.

As you will see, I have published the results of the feature asking you to write in telling me your favourite 3 Slade singles, so that I could print "The Fans' All Time Favourite Singles Chart".

For some time "Take Me Bak Ome" and "Rock n Roll Bolero" were way ahead of all other songs, but as Xmas approached "Merry Xmas Everybody" received such a large amount of votes that it nipped in front of them and won, by 3 votes!

It was strange to see "Rock n Roll Bolero", which flopped in the Autumn of 1978, getting so many votes. But on the other hand it was equally strange to find that none of the singles from the "Nobody's Fools" album (namely "Nobody's Fool", "In For A Penny" and "Let's Call It Quits") got enough of your votes to enter into the Top Twenty:

Well, after spending a couple of hours going through all your entries for The Slade News Readers' Poll 1979 the results have been decided. Most results are predictable, but in some categories more unusual decisions have been made.

1. BEST SLADE ALBUM

1 Whatever Happened To

2 Return To Base

3 Slade Alive

2. BEST ALBUM TRACK

1 Hear Me Calling

2 Lemme Love Into Ya

3 Born To Be Wild

3. BEST ALBUM COVER

1 Slade Alive

2 Whatever Happened To...

3 Sladest

4. BEST SINGLE SLEEVE

1 My Baby Left Me

2 Far Far Away

3 In For A Penny

5. BEST SINGLE B SIDE

1 She Did It To Me

2 It's Alright Buy Me

3 I'm Mee, I'm Now An Thats Orl

6. BEST LIVE SLADE SONG

1 Hear Me Calling

2 Get Down And Get With It

3 Gudbuy T'Jane

7. SONG YOU'D MOST LIKE TO HEAR SLADE PLAY LIVE

1 Skweeze Me Pleeze Me

2 The Bangin' Man Hall 1977

3 Coz I Luv You

8. BEST EVER CONCERT

1 Earl's Court 1973

2 Bristol Colston

3 Rainbow 1977

9. BEST 1979 CONCERT

1 Wolverhampton Civic

2 Cleethorpes Bunnies

3 Music Machine

10. BEST ACTOR IN "FLAME"

1 Noddy Holder

11. BEST FLAME SEQUENCE

1 Noddy In Coffin

2 Rainbow Concert

3 Car Chase and Crash

12. BEST EARLY SLADE SINGLE

1 Know Who You Are

2 Shape Of Things To Come

3 Genesis

13. BEST IMPORT ALBUM

1 The Story Of Slade'

2 Slade - 2 Disques

3 Coz I Luv You

14. MOST INTERESTING SLADE MEMBER TO TALK TO

1 Dave Hill

15. BEST PROMOTIONAL FILM

1 Give Us A Goal

2 My Baby Left Me

3 Gudbuy T'Jane

16. BEST SLADE PHOTO

1. Back of Sladest cover

2. Steve Flinders' photos

3 Cover to W.H.T.S. pic

SLADE BADGES

NEW 'RETURN TO BASE' BADGE

Send a 25 p Blank, uncrossed Postal Order and S.A>E. to:-

NOMIS

86 BENTLEY LANE, MEANWOOD

LEEDS LS6 4AJ

Also send S.A.E. if you are interested in seeing "SLADE IN FLAME" at the A.B.C. Cinema, Leeds late one Friday night.

I will send full details as soon as possible

nomis

This was the first edition of the Slade Fan Club News (now the official fan club) and came with a promotional photograph and an insert for a new badge made available by Nomis(both above). It also contained a strictly limited edition of theBarn Biography which was sent to the first hundred members to join up.

This was the first Fan Club News when Dave Kemp made it to a subscription service like other fan clubs. Prior to this he would advertise the newsletters in the music papers and supplied them on demand to those that answered, you could also send him an sae and he would let you know when the next one was ready. The "035" (green ink) is the membership number written by Dave Kemp.

Slade Fan Club Member 035 was Stu Rutter, who was kind enough to send his fan club bits to me so that I could share them with you. Very much appreciated.

Welcome

There is nothing new on this blog, everything here has been previously available elsewhere, in one format or another. My aim here is to try to ensure that the information is available to all Slade fans everywhere.

My thanks to Chris Selby (without whom I would know nothing)and anybody else that has supplied anything personal to this or any other media collection. I must apologise to Chris Charlesworth for taking liberty's with his book. Anybody who is interested in the group's history should invest in a copy of 'Feel The Noize', generally considered to be The Slade Bible by most fans. And last but by no means least,Keith Farley ('N Between Times) and John R. Woodhouse (Brum Beat) who have provided much background information by way of their on-line research, These should be studied by anybody with any interest in the 60's Midland Beat era. More general 60's info can be found at Marmalade Skies, a source of invaluable pop essentials.

Any offer of missing artwork would be gratefully received. My main concern is to get 'readable text' for the trainspotters.

Contributors

Official Media

All of Slade's official releases have been remastered and released on CD with good quality packaging and comprehensive sleeve notes by Salvo for Union Square. I would recommend the purchase of this collection to anybody who is interested in the group. This blog will not be making any official music available for download.

Images are for review or research purposes only. All images, audio, video, text, etc. is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

The Historian

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris Selby for his input. This site owes much, if not all, to his relentless research and charitable nature. Keep up the good work mate.

Slade Fans

Help Slade...

Email

Subject: From Roots To Boots

mcp59 at live dot co dot uk

Copyright

No part of this work should be reproduced or used without the express permission of the author or his associates. Failure to comply may result in legal action. This blog copyright of Michael Parker and associated sources.